Caregivers’ Baseline Mental Health Problems and Early Childhood Social Skills at One-Year Follow-Up in an Urban Area of Indonesia

Background/Objectives: Social development in children is a significant aspect that supports appropriate behavior in the community, and parents, as the main caregivers, play a central role in developing social skills in children. However, caregivers experiencing mental health problems—such as depression, anxiety, and stress—may find it challenging to provide a nurturing rearing environment. This one-year follow-up study examined whether the baseline mental health of caregivers was associated with social skills in children 1 year later in an urban Indonesian context. Methods: A one-year follow-up study was conducted in an urban area of Indonesia in 2023–2024, inviting all nine kindergartens in the area to participate. Caregivers completed the demographic questionnaire and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21), while teachers assessed social skills in children using the Social Skills Scale (SSS). Linear mixed-effects models with random intercepts for kindergarten were estimated to account for clustering. Results: Finally, a total of 270 parent–child dyads were included. After adjusting for baseline social skills and covariates, higher levels of baseline caregiver depression (B = −0.15, p < 0.001), anxiety (B = −0.22, p < 0.001), and stress (B = −0.27, p < 0.001) were associated with lower social skills in children in the follow-up. Conclusions: Even subclinical variations in caregiver mental health problems may be meaningfully associated with social development in children over time. The findings highlight mental health in caregivers as a potentially important factor associated with early social development in an urban setting of Indonesia.